RELATIVITY

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

5abb0113c8ed3.imageKimberly and I saw The Theory of Relativity at CCM on Wednesday night. It was the dress rehearsal and, in fairness and in principle I will not ever review a dress rehearsal of anything, even if I absolutely love what I see. And that precisely was the case with this brilliant production of a show I had never heard of.

Seeing today’s post by our colleague Kirk Sheppard (“The Sappy Critic”) I was moved to post this “non-review” with kudos for, first and foremost, director-choreographer, Katie Johannigman, who is making a splash on her first year in the CCM Musical Theatre faculty. Johannigman delivered a first-class show on a bare stage save for a blackboard, some chairs, and a stairs leading to the upper level of the Cohen Studio space, which she used to 100% advantage.

Just the music, creatively helmed by Steve Goers and its urbanely witty lyrics about the whole gamut of human relationships: straight, gay, just friends, something more than friends, sufficed, neatly served up by an amazingly professional cast, all still students, with no costumes, no trappings, simple lighting.

The show sold out its entire run, but, word to the wise, you’d be crazy to miss anything CCM announces for next year, not only the main stage shows listed in its brochure, but the Cohen Studio musical theatre productions that often go by under the radar even for culture vultures looking for something interesting and free, which The Theory of Relativity was.

Just saying…

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”

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